2-* S. VI. 154., Dec. 11. '58.] NOTES AND QUERIES. 



483 



war frequeut such harbours ? Outside, if there 

 be any anchorage, it must be dangerous, and such 

 as would not be approved of at the Admiralty, 

 even for twenty-four hours. But admitting the 

 very remarkable coincidence of the ship's arrival 

 • in the neighbourhood of Ilfracombe at the very 

 moment the funeral was about to take place, how 

 did it happen that the circumstance became known 

 to those on board, and that her crew assisted at 

 the ceremony ? Most probably the relatives of 

 the deceased communicated it to the captain, and 

 requested the assistance of his crew. Thus, by 

 their own act, bringing about the fulfilment of that 

 part of the prophecy. 



Before taking leave of the subject, it may be 

 remarked that persons bent on the fulfilment of a 

 prophecy stop at nothing, or rather, imagine every- 

 thing calculated to carry out their end — " Trifles, 

 light as air," &c., aptly applies to them ; and, unless 

 bitten by the same monomania, I should think 

 this may be admitted by all who have had the 

 courage to wade through the highly eulogised 

 volumes of Keith, Faber, &c. A. C. M. 



' COURT. 



(2°'» S. vi. 395. 423.) 



This word, like aiiKri in Greek, and mila, area, 

 and atrium in Latin, means an inclosed space. The 

 word court is from the French (Gaelic cuiri), and 

 has not been domiciled perhaps more than eight 

 centuries; but its congener, yard, which came 

 through the Anglo-Saxon geard, is of greater an- 

 tiquity in England. Both words, I conceive, are 

 from the same root, the Scandinavian gdrd, 

 " court," which is also a congener, if not identical 

 with gorude, the Sclavonic for " town," and the 

 adjuncts to many names of towns, of gorod, ge- 

 rode, grod, grad, and grade. The Swedish Bible 

 translates the Hebrew "*¥!!! by gard, " court." * A 

 town (oppiduni) amongst the Britons, according 

 to Caesar, "is nothing more than a thick wood, 

 fortified with a ditch and rampart, to serve as a 

 place of retreat against the incursions of their 

 enemies" {Bel. Gal. v. 22.) ; and Strabo says of 

 them, " v6\eis 5' avrwv ilaiv ol Spv/xoC' TzepKppa^avTes 

 yap S&Specri KarageSATj/ueVois k/ikKov." " Forests are 

 their cities, inclosing a circle with felled trees" 

 (iv. 5. 2.). The like appears to have been the case 

 with the Germans, for Tacitus says, " none live 

 together in cities. . . . every man has a vacant 

 space round his own house" (Germ, xvi.) ; and ac- 

 cording to Hummel, " although there were places 

 surrounded by palisades called towns by Dion 

 Cassius and Ptolemy, yet cities and towns were 

 unknown in Germany till the fifth century, and 

 increased under Charlemagne and Henry the 



• Garden, garth, girth, and girt, appear to be from the 

 aame root, as inuloaing space, 



Fowler" (Deutsch. Alterthiim, p. 222.). In our 

 streets we have courts and yards, the distinction 

 being that the former are thought superior to the 

 latter. The term court-yard, in our baronial cas- 

 tles, furnishes both words, and arose after a dis- 

 tinction had been established betwixt cour, court, 

 and basse cour, yard. 



Looking at the fact that the ancient Britons 

 and Germans constructed such courts, some nf 

 them fenced and ditched (Caesar, Bel. Gal. v. 22., 

 Strabo, iv. 5. 2.), for protection against armed men, 

 as the castles of the barons were subsequently, 

 the derivation of garod in Scandinavian and Scla- 

 vonic may be shown to be from the -Sanscrit car, 

 to separate or encircle, and yuhd, to combat. 

 (EichhofiT, Roots, Nos. 276, 175. p. 220, 211.) Our 

 courts of law*, which permitted single combat 

 until recently abolished, had their barriers or bars, 

 whither suitors flocked accompanied by the utter 

 or outside barristers (apprentitii leguni) : the space 

 within the bar being confined to the crown, or its 

 representative, the judge, and the Serjeants (= 

 servants or craftsmen), together with such of the 

 apprentices as the sovereign now distinguishes by 

 the livery of a silk gown. So in the High Court 

 of Parliament, when a Bill passes into an Act, the 

 Sovereign and the Lords Spiritual and Temporal 

 sit tvithin the bar, whilst the Commons, with their 

 Speaker, the latter on a footstool, stand on the 

 outside of the barrier. 



In the Court, kkt e^oxV, the privilege of the 

 entree is confined to the few who possess it as a 

 right of birth, or as a duty, and to those to whom 

 such grace may be accorded. 



The description above given by the ancient 

 authorities, to which may be added Herodian 

 (vi. 2.), depicts the condition of London, Canter- 

 bury, and York, at the time of the Roman inva- 

 sion, and long subsequently thereto, if Hummel's 

 description of Germany applies also to England. 

 We have here likewise an explanation of the great 

 circles of stones at Stonehenge, and other places 

 in this country and France, which were doubtless 

 the courts of the Celts, where forests did not grow, 

 and the rudiments of baronial edifices of a later 

 day. The Welch term for Stonehenge is chuir- 

 gaur, " great circle," " court," or " choir," to which 

 Stukeley's chorus magnus very nearly approxi- 

 mates. T. J. BUCKTON. 



Lichfield. 



The term court, as applied to farms in East 

 Kent and occasionally elsewhere, is evidently con- 

 nected with the French cour, in old Fr. court. 

 It is also connected with the Latin curia ; and it 

 is possibly applied to some manorial farms, as 

 your correspondent Cantuarius thinks, on ac- 



* Blackstone (iii. 3. y. 2.").) says "the law hath ap- 

 pointed a prodigious variety of courts." 



